Too many people don't try because they don't have the resources to make their apps as awesome as they want it to be right out of the gate.
Just get it out there. If people find it useful it'll gain traction and you'll get the resources you need to make it awesome.
Likewise, if I tried to develop a Qur'an app, it might not work so well, because I have no idea how a Muslim uses the Qur'an. Of course, I could go talk to a bunch and write an ok version, but I'm sure it wouldn't be as good as an app that a Muslim would write (given a developer of equivalent skills).
Unfortunately, that is not really a meaningful thing to say as a guide to behavior: it's like suggesting that someone sell non-apples - meaningful, not wrong, and useless advice. You need to know what demographics developers aren't before that can be useful; you need to know, say, that developers tend to be male, white/Asian, First Worlders, before you can say 'ah, females may be underserved!'
And you need to think of the categories in the first place, like this religion example shows. If someone asks you if developers might tend to not be fans of religion than the general population, it might seem obvious, but 'being atheists' is not the most salient feature of developers.
Developers should become part of other demographics, so they start to feel other people's itches. Understanding the itch is the best way to create the right product.
When you pitch a product idea to someone many will come back with "but who would buy that?" when it turns out, there's TONS of stuff me, you, and my mom would never buy... that literally thousands of other people would.
Most people do over think. But it really depends on your goals. If you're only looking for a small side income there's no reason to try something 100% new.
Sticking it out too long on these small projects can be dangerous though. We probably agree here more than not, but the trick is knowing when to drop something. If it's not selling and there's nothing fatally wrong with it, I say stop and move on.
Just my two cents though.
Maybe it's the persistence of business that makes so much invention come from commerce. People in their garage get bored, people at work get paid to keep trying.
Are there any other channels for selling apps?
I "Ask HN"-ed this but didn't get much attention...
Or have a friend in say the UK submit it for you
The thing is, it is not only for the submission, but one needs to have, for instance, address, bank account... So you would have to ask your friend quite often, which is not comfortable and scalable.
EDIT: @ambiate - Sorry, didn't get your question, could you please clarify.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...
Apple app store:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4277613/list-of-countries...
> The next time you think to yourself that there is
> anything needed to make money on software besides
> persistence, thoughtfulness, and picking something you
> know people want, you're in a trap of your own creation.
Case proven by this guy! The next time you think to yourself that there is anything needed to make money on software besides persistence, thoughtfulness, and picking something you know people want, you're in a trap of your own creation.
People who don't make money on their apps typically fail because they try to be too novel, try to make the app too good, or they don't stick in there long enough.